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I. Emerging Issues
The standing panel went around the table
asking everyone to highlight what they consider the emerging
issues facing the federal system that they see in their state
or region. Participants offered:
* The erosion of the sales tax as a basic
source of revenue to finance
state and local governments remains an important topic for
the panel.
Recent debates in Congress over the collection of sales tax
on Internet
sales point up tensions between the federal authority established
for
interstate commerce and state sovereignty to raise revenues.
States have
proposed an interstate compact which would establish standard
definitions and a streamlined process to collect taxes on
remote purchases.
* Virginia Governor James Gilmore leading
the Internet Tax Commission and pushing for long-term tax
free status for Internet commerce. In Virginia
he has gone so far as to suggest that the sales tax should
be eliminated for all purchases. A different fiscal problem
was reported in the state of
Tennessee, which has no state income tax. The state leadership
is resisting any efforts to reform the highly regressive system,
which even taxes food sales. In Albuquerque there is evidence
that restaurant receipts have declined since Indian gaming
casinos have drawn residents into tax-free entertainment centers.
* Across the country there is considerable
interest in legislation and
programs to support "smart growth," with some early
success reported in
places like Maryland. Maryland has recently adopted incentives
to
encourage development in older, more urban areas, or where
redevelopment is desired. In most areas the tensions between
development and environmental preservation and between local
control of land use and state or federal authority over environmental
protection remain problematic. * Welfare reform, the issue
selected for the session organized by the Federal System Panel
in the main Spring Meeting, has proven to be more costly than
politicians will admit. The experimental programs to train,
place, and support former welfare recipients in Minnesota
during their first years off welfare has cost nearly twice
as much per person as previous social welfare programs. At
the same time, most states report considerable success in
moving welfare recipients into the work place. In the process,
the role of many county welfare workers has shifted from checking
welfare applicants' eligibility for benefits to researching
job opportunities and counseling candidates on skills and
approaches to obtaining and holding a job. In the current
expanding economy, welfare recipients have shown less interest
in pursuing education and training than in moving straight
into a job.
In its recent case study of Lynchburg, VA,
the University of Virginia
found that some organizational changes were required to carry
out welfare
reform successfully. Multiple agencies and public and private
sector
interests have needed to work together to bring about success,
and the city
has assumed the role of convener.
The UVA study also found that the individuals
in Lynchburg who had the
most difficulty in making the transition from welfare were
different from
other former welfare recipients in just two areas: they tended
to have no
personal safety net of support from their family or community,
and a
majority lacked a driver's license.
II. Transforming governance
The panel had a brief discussion about the issues outlined
in Don Kettl's
paper "Transformation of Governance" and agreed
to provide some further
thoughts through an e-mail or snail mail dialogue.
III. NAPA-NIRA
Conference
Carl Stenberg will head the U.S. delegation
for the conference NAPA is
cosponsorsing in Tokyo, "Sustainable Development, Environmental
Conditions, and Public Management in the United States, Japan,
and other Pacific Rim Countries," to be held July 26-28,
2000. This will be the fourth conference jointly sponsored
by NAPA and its Japanese counterpart, the National Institute
for Research Advancement, through the efforts of Federal System
Panel members and associates.
In addition to Carl Stenberg, the U.S. delegation
will include Academy Fellows Deil Wright and Jon Jun (who
coordinated the previous three conferences), Scott Fosler,
Norm King, Valerie Lemmie, associate panel member Dale Krane,
and Rick Minard, Associate Director of the Academy's Center
for the Economy and the Environment, and a small number of
other practitioners and research experts on sustainable development
and associate challenges, who will present papers or participate
in roundtable discussions at the conference, along with counterparts
from Japan, China,
Korea, and Thailand. The Center for Global Partnership, part
of the Japan Foundation in Tokyo, has once again generously
agreed to grant funds to cover the travel costs to permit
the U.S. delegation to make the trip to the conference.
NOTE: The panel plans to prepare periodic
e-mail notes or highlights of developments in the federal
system, following the models of ICMA and ASPA and other on-line
newsletters. If you would prefer not to receive future e-mail
messages (or follow-up mail versions) from the Federal System
Panel, please reply to that effect or notify Ann Mladinov
at the Academy 202-347-3190 or 1-800-3190, or by email (click
here). Thank you!
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